18-06-2012, 04:19 AM
Our friend died November 22, 2007, and I have held a copy he gave me of his letter of July 18, 1998 to Mr. Robert A. Caro, 91 Central Park West, New York New York 10023.
It reads in part:
In the summer of 1963 the economist Eliot Janeway kept an appointment he had made with William H. Gassett, vice president and economist of Eaton & Howard, Inc., located at 24 Federal St., Boston. Bill Gassett had previously telephoned me, two floors above him, and asked me to attend the meeting. I was a portfolio manager, not an economist, and when I entered Gassett's office I expected to see some other people from Eaton & Howard there as well. But I was the only one invited.
Gassett's office was large and had extra chairs. His desk chair was backed up to two windows on Federal Street, and on the opposite side of his desk were two chairs where visitors would sit. Strangely, Eliot Janeway sat beside Gassett, apparently having moved a visitor's chair near him.
For the next twenty to thirty minutes Janeway spoke to us as a "close friend of LBJ of long standing" about the dangerous man called John F. Kennedy who occupied the presidency of the United States. He whispered his comments in what I have always referred to as a hiss. Janeway had not one good thing to say about JFK or his brother Robert, and strongly advised us to consider the great damage that they could and probably would do to the nation.
Following the assassination, when I saw many older officers, who were staunch Republicans, openly weep, I telephoned Gassett from my office and reminded him of Janeway's earlier visit. Gassett said, "I don't even want to think about it."
Janeway is long dead; Bill Gassett died some years ago also, and I am 75 years old now. I have told this story as an anecdote from time to time over the years. If you care to pursue it, here are some details that might help toward authentication. Eaton & Howard is now known as Eaton & Vance, and is a much larger operation than it was in 1960-68 period when I was a portfolio manager there. But it was a factor in the Boston investment scene, with over 100 employees and with offices in New York City and San Francisco.
I fell that Janeway was on a tour encompassing more than Boston to spread his words as a messenger of LBJ among the investment community. I suspect that someone in another and perhaps larger investment firm that he had visited earlier in the day, may have telephoned Bill Gassett and advised him to have a witness in the room if Janeway appeared. I can't prove that, but I am sure that Janeway would have booked meetings at such larger Boston firms of that time as Mass. Investors Trust (now Mass. Financial Services), Keystone, and probably The Old Colony Trust Co. (wholly-owned by the then First National Bank of Boston). Possibly Scudder, Stevens & Clark and Loomis, Sayles may also have received visits. In Boston in 1963 one would have no trouble visiting many investment firms in just one day.
It was obvious while Janeway spoke to us that he was more than just a friend and messenger of LBJ's. He was virulent, he was evil, and I am sure he believed every word he spoke. There was no discussion of current economics in that meeting, nor were either Gassett or I allowed time to comment or question his statements. It was a prepared speech, and when it ended, Janeway left.
End
Note: On stationery bearing address, telephone, fax. Dated July 18, 1998
I have the copy handed me by the writer.
To clarify his position on LBJ, his ire was evident in recounting, "Brown & Root would show up every week for another check for a billion dollars."
I have wondered what relation to a) EO 11110, and b) the American University speech had to Janeway's circuit. And of course in Horne is stipulated the Dallas event was being typeset as of April 23, a date associated with Secret Service defiance of 1992 JFK Records Act responsibilities.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]3838[/ATTACH]
It reads in part:
In the summer of 1963 the economist Eliot Janeway kept an appointment he had made with William H. Gassett, vice president and economist of Eaton & Howard, Inc., located at 24 Federal St., Boston. Bill Gassett had previously telephoned me, two floors above him, and asked me to attend the meeting. I was a portfolio manager, not an economist, and when I entered Gassett's office I expected to see some other people from Eaton & Howard there as well. But I was the only one invited.
Gassett's office was large and had extra chairs. His desk chair was backed up to two windows on Federal Street, and on the opposite side of his desk were two chairs where visitors would sit. Strangely, Eliot Janeway sat beside Gassett, apparently having moved a visitor's chair near him.
For the next twenty to thirty minutes Janeway spoke to us as a "close friend of LBJ of long standing" about the dangerous man called John F. Kennedy who occupied the presidency of the United States. He whispered his comments in what I have always referred to as a hiss. Janeway had not one good thing to say about JFK or his brother Robert, and strongly advised us to consider the great damage that they could and probably would do to the nation.
Following the assassination, when I saw many older officers, who were staunch Republicans, openly weep, I telephoned Gassett from my office and reminded him of Janeway's earlier visit. Gassett said, "I don't even want to think about it."
Janeway is long dead; Bill Gassett died some years ago also, and I am 75 years old now. I have told this story as an anecdote from time to time over the years. If you care to pursue it, here are some details that might help toward authentication. Eaton & Howard is now known as Eaton & Vance, and is a much larger operation than it was in 1960-68 period when I was a portfolio manager there. But it was a factor in the Boston investment scene, with over 100 employees and with offices in New York City and San Francisco.
I fell that Janeway was on a tour encompassing more than Boston to spread his words as a messenger of LBJ among the investment community. I suspect that someone in another and perhaps larger investment firm that he had visited earlier in the day, may have telephoned Bill Gassett and advised him to have a witness in the room if Janeway appeared. I can't prove that, but I am sure that Janeway would have booked meetings at such larger Boston firms of that time as Mass. Investors Trust (now Mass. Financial Services), Keystone, and probably The Old Colony Trust Co. (wholly-owned by the then First National Bank of Boston). Possibly Scudder, Stevens & Clark and Loomis, Sayles may also have received visits. In Boston in 1963 one would have no trouble visiting many investment firms in just one day.
It was obvious while Janeway spoke to us that he was more than just a friend and messenger of LBJ's. He was virulent, he was evil, and I am sure he believed every word he spoke. There was no discussion of current economics in that meeting, nor were either Gassett or I allowed time to comment or question his statements. It was a prepared speech, and when it ended, Janeway left.
End
Note: On stationery bearing address, telephone, fax. Dated July 18, 1998
I have the copy handed me by the writer.
To clarify his position on LBJ, his ire was evident in recounting, "Brown & Root would show up every week for another check for a billion dollars."
I have wondered what relation to a) EO 11110, and b) the American University speech had to Janeway's circuit. And of course in Horne is stipulated the Dallas event was being typeset as of April 23, a date associated with Secret Service defiance of 1992 JFK Records Act responsibilities.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]3838[/ATTACH]